How to Fly
by The Last Poison Apple
Summary: Vanellope knew the reason as to why Taffyta couldn't stop crying. The thing is, knowing something didn't make it any easier to do something about it.


**Hey guys! I just watched Wreck-it Ralph yesterday, and I've got to say, it was the most amazing thing I've seen in a long while. It's such a perfect movie. If you haven't already watched it, I demand that you go do it. Now.**

**This takes place post-movie, about a couple of weeks after.  
**

**On another note, I'm doing a year of gift-giving in 2013! Check out my profile for more details.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Wreck-it Ralph.**

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Vanellope didn't know what to think.

It had been another ordinary day –as ordinary as it could be, after it was revealed that she wasn't a glitch at all, but the princess of Sugar Rush. She'd dodged a couple of well-meaning but pesky Oreo guards, driven away from the castle and ditched the doughnut that had insisted on accompanying her. All in a day's work, really, and considering that no one knew where she always went, it was a piece of chocolate cake with frosted sugar icing to get away.

Her citizens didn't know it, but where Vanellope always went when she had the time to herself was home. Back to her place by the diet cola hot springs, where she could curl up in her candy wrapper blankets and be alone.

Because while Vanellope really did try her hardest to be a good president of Sugar Rush, the truth was that she simply needed time to be by herself. A lot had happened recently, and it was all taking time to sink in. In the hustle and bustle of the palace, it was hard for her to really think –especially when she looked over and saw the sign that pointed to the Fungeons. She hated seeing that sign; her first instinct upon catching sight of it was simply to run away.

Vanellope von Schweetz was a girl who listened, hard as a jawbreaker, to her instincts.

That was what had led her to now –she'd been driving recklessly fast towards her home, and she was nearly there when she saw Taffyta Muttonfudge herself, looking all sorts of dejected and moody and, well, _lost_. They made eye contact –and in that brief moment, Vanellope knew that Taffyta had, just like her, been doing a lot of thinking, and just like her, not all of it had been candy canes and rainbows.

She would have liked to stop to talk, but because she'd gone slightly off course that day while driving over, the fudged doughnut was actually gaining on her. So she simply did what any other character would have done –she threw a panicked glance over her shoulder, grabbed Taffyta, somehow managed to pull her onto her kart while still driving in a straight line without slowing down, and continued driving off towards the part of the wall where the lollipops crossed.

And of course Taffyta screamed at her in blind panic when she approached the wall, but Vanellope didn't let that stop her. Soon enough, they were both through the wall and inside Diet Cola Mountain.

Which, of course, was her predicament in itself. She'd only ever brought one other person into her home –and that was when they were running from the police. There wasn't much of a difference there, actually, but what was different was that this was Taffyta. The girl who had made her life a sour lemon for _years_.

The girl who had once been her best friend.

"So, um, make yourself at home." Vanellope mentally slapped herself for stumbling, but she hauled herself out of her kart either way and started walking over to her bed.

Taffyta, meanwhile, was staring around in wide-eyed wonder. "What is this place?"

Vanellope shrugged. "Home," she said simply. "I live here." She didn't look back at Taffyta, and instead grabbed a candy wrapper and wrapped herself up. This was what she missed. She didn't need a fluffy marshmallow bed like the one she had at the palace –she just wanted her candy wrappers and her donut.

It took a while, but eventually Taffyta joined her on her doughnut. Vanellope passed her a spare sweet wrapper, but other than the crinkling of the thin plastic sheet and the bubbling from the hot spring, there was nothing in the air but silence.

The silence suited Vanellope well; if Taffyta didn't know how to breach the subject, there was no reason she should get too worked up over that either. She slipped into her little bubble of thought. Eventually, she even forgot Taffyta's presence entirely, but when Taffyta cleared her throat with a little cough, her bubble was popped and she was brought back to where she was. Diet Coke Mountain. On her doughnut. Next to Taffyta.

"I wanted to apologize," Taffyta said quietly.

Vanellope wanted to tell Taffyta that an apology didn't cut it, that she'd done too much in the years prior for it all to be over with a simple 'sorry'. She reminded herself that Taffyta had had her memories locked, and that it wasn't either of their faults that their friendship –something that had seemed so strong, so irreplaceable before Turbo had come along –had been buried and forgotten by both of them. She settled for telling her, "You didn't have to be so mean."

That was all that had to be said, really. When she had seen Taffyta for the first time after her memories had been unlocked, she felt a stab of something in her chest –was friendship really forgotten as easily as that? Did they not matter anymore? Vanellope had never hated Taffyta –Taffyta had hurt her many times over, but she somehow still thought of Taffyta as a –not _nice_, but an alright sort of person underneath. Taffyta was simply what everyone else was –more than a little spiteful, but mainly just scared of her and her glitching. And she supposed that, no matter how she couldn't figure out why, back then, it made sense now. Somehow, she had still known Taffyta wasn't just a bully.

Even then, Taffyta had been so much more to her.

With her memories restored, Vanellope had realized that there had once been a time where being with Taffyta was like flying –time spent with her made her feel so incredibly carefree, like a bird that soared through the skies. They had been competitors on track, but off track, they had been inseparable best friends.

But Taffyta had still treated her like how Sergeant Calhoun treated Cy-Bugs. Like she was something scary, something that had to be disposed of for the good of everyone else.

And Vanellope had never even done anything.

Taffyta sniffed. It brought Vanellope back to a couple of weeks ago, when she'd first seen Taffyta and the rest after they'd all regained their memories and Taffyta wouldn't stop crying. Most of the other racers hadn't understood why Taffyta couldn't stop her tears.

But Vanellope had known. She was willing to bet that in that moment, both of them had been feeling equally lost, equally uncertain about what they thought they had known.

Vanellope had thought that Taffyta was her nemesis.

She had apparently been wrong.

"I'm sorry," Tayffyta said, in between sobs that were getting louder and louder. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Vanellope's first thought was to tell Taffyta to stop crying, but when she rolled over to look at the other racer, all thoughts flew out of her head as she started to focus on telling _herself_ not to cry. "Taffy…"

The sound of the old nickname only prompted Taffyta to sob harder, and though Vanellope hesitated, she reached over and enveloped the other girl in a hug. They lay there like that for a long while, Taffyta sobbing into her while Vanellope simply rubbed Taffyta's back in an effort to soothe her, careful, of course, to be gentle.

They weren't best friends yet. But Vanellope thought that it was a good first step to learning how to fly.


End file.
